The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1887-07-09
ADULTERATED LARD.
Tremendous Profits in the Manufacture
the Impure Mixtures.

the Impure Mixtures.
Yhcy have notion in France that an
innocent or perhaps ignorant purchaser
is entitled to some protection, and so
all the shops where horse meat is sold
are compelled to place horses head
over the door as q warning signal. In
the same line of policy is the Ameri-
can law, which requires that mysteri-
GUS compound, oleomargarine, to be
marked, and the Massachusetts, Legisla-
ture will soon be called upon to take
action upon the matter of lard adultera-
ton.
Mr.. John P. Squire, in giving q
history of the increase in the adultera-
ton of lard, said that the business be-
gan in very small way about six years
ago. At that time the price Of tallow
was nearly rs high as that of lard, and
there was no profit in adulteraton, but
since that time the price of tallow has
steadily declined and adulteration of
lard has been consequently increasing.
Mutton and beef tallow and cottonseed
oil are used for the purpose. The ruling
price for the tallow is cents pound
and for the oil Al. The oil is used
to bring the adulterated mixture up
to the consistency of honest lard.
The net cost for making the mix
ture is Al u pound or, delivered
in Boston, cents. The mess pork
corner of last winter advanced the price
of hogs, and it is fact that manufact-
prers of pure lard have been losing s. q
tierce on the actual cost of material,
for while hogs were higher the greascs
remained ut the old prices, and the
manufacturers of the adulterated mix
ture flooded the country with their prod
uct and cheapened the price of lard
everywhere. Some of this mixture is
branded "refined lard" and while good
cottonsecd oil may not be injurious, it
has to be hleached with sulphuric acid
for this purpose, and the same is true
of the tallow. If any of the acid re-
mains in the mixture it must be danger
Gus, but whether it does or not, the
compound is swindle. The manu-
facturers of it, and there is only one
prominent retiner in the country who
does not make it, put better quality
in the pals than in the tierces. There
is some good lard in the pals. but
little in the tierces. 1t is for the
interest of the packers to pre-
vent adultcration, and the next
meeting of Congress will see them uni
ted in asking that something be done
about it. The effort to have law
enacted in this State began with the
packers, and they ask that the obnox-
,ous compound be made to carry the
label "adulterated," rs olcomargarine
is labeled AS an example of the profit
to the refners who make this mixture,
let it be supposed that u ticrce contains
800 pounds, and that $50 pounds of it
is pure lard. OF the other 100 pounds
75 are of cottonseed and 70 of beef fat
Reckoning the price of pure lard at z!
cents and of the adulterants at Al cents,
it is seen that on $50 pounds the retin-
ers start out with clear profit of S4.50
over the man who puts up 800 pounds
of honest lard. The cottonsecd oil
comes from the Southern States and
the supply of it is controlled by Il corr
pOration that has u monopoly. This
corporation pays cash to the planters
for the oil, and in that way gets it so
cheap, that were the planters to stop
and think q moment they would see
that 1t 10 better for them to keep the seed
for fertiiizing purposes. Adulteratcd
lard is worse than oleomargarine, be-
cause while the latter comes directly
to tho taste and can be stunned. tho
former gets into PERSONS stomach
indirectly and before he knows 1t. OF
course the adulterated mixture is not SO
good for cooking purposes as the pure
lard. The bakers tried cottonseed oil |
md found that whatever was fried in
1t became hard and dry in few hours.
.-Boston Posi